Lee heads to A-B

MARTINSBURG – Ja’ Torrian Lee has been an all-around athlete for Martinsburg during his four years of high school.

He was a key wide receiver as part of the Bulldogs’ most recent football championship, an important player for the basketball team and one of Martinsburg’s top hurdlers on the track team.

Lee always dreamed of playing a sport at the collegiate level, and that dream is now becoming a reality as he signed his letter-of-intent with Alderson Broaddus to play football for the Battlers.

“I’m very excited to grow up and to play football,” Lee said. “I really look forward to going to Alderson Broaddus to play and be a part of the football team.”

Lee did not always see himself going to college to play football. However, he said when he picked the sport up in the eighth grade, that began to change.

“Growing up as a kid, I thought I would play basketball, and then I started playing football and I fell in love with it,” Lee said.

Lee had a good season for the Bulldogs football team, but his biggest play of the season came when it mattered most.

During the second quarter of the championship game, he caught a tipped pass at the Huntington nine-yard line that set up the winning touchdown.

“I had a deep post route, and I wasn’t wide open. There was two guys on me,” Lee said. “I looked back and held my hand up and told Malique (Watkins) to throw it to me. He threw it up to me. I jumped up and grabbed it.”

Lee is the fifth Bulldog from this past year’s team to sign with A-B. He will be joining Malik Cobb, Cody Jenkins, Daiveyon Monroe and AJ Petry in Philippi for the coming season.

The familiarity among teammates will be a big help for the former Bulldogs next year.

“I feel like it’s going to help me more because coming from a winning program. We’re going to be able to feed off each other,” said Lee. “That’s going to help me and the other four that’s going with me”

With that familiarity will come a common drive to succeed and win, something Lee and the rest of his Bulldog teammates have become accustomed to doing.

“We realized that if you put in the hard work, then you’ll get a positive outcome from it,” Lee said. “We just continue to work hard.”

Lee said his recruiting coach told him if he worked hard enough in the summer, he could possibly start as a true-freshmen wide receiver.

Football may not be the only sport in college for Lee, who said he may try to run track for the Battlers as a way to stay in shape and get faster.

At Alderson Broaddus, Lee is planning to major in business.

Lee was also honored Thursday at Martinsburg’s Senior Awards Program as Martinsburg’s Male Academic Athlete of the Year.

“I want to thank my coaches for always pushing me in the weight room and helping me become a better athlete,” Lee said. “And my parents for always pushing me as a person and help me build character.”